


'Bout Time You Break Down Your Wall

by Anonymous



Category: Soul Calibur, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Side Characters Galore (Soul Calibur), Tags Are Hard, Weapon-Based Violence [and descriptions thereof], im just gonna update the tags as we go on hoo boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 11:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16597487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Though one may fear a tangible entity, it is the unknown that oft grips the soul of humanity with terror. Plunging headfirst into those depths for the sake of a stranger, he unwittingly forges his name upon the stage of history.Our story takes place in the sixteenth century...





	'Bout Time You Break Down Your Wall

**Author's Note:**

> Rest in Peace, Stan Lee — the worlds and characters you've given rise to shall live on with us.

> _Midoriya Izuku stares down upon his treasured notebook, adrift in the koi pond floors below._
> 
> _Like plastic in the ocean, its presence is nearly unending in the depths._
> 
> _No matter the burden upon its bearer, it never fades._
> 
> _A dream, etched deep into the soul._

_Stepping away from the window, the boy gathers his things once again and heads homeward. His eyes barely see beyond the well-worn path and the shadow of his hair, his thoughts inward on the looming hope that dwindles within. Being Quirkless is a powerful wall before him, and with each day the path over it grows more and more improbable. Even his own mother cannot hold fast to his own will._

_As he descends the stairs — his mind in a spiral upon the same path — a single stray thought among many changes the course of his destiny._

**_If only I weren't so powerless..._ **

> _Walking within the darkness of his own weakness, his body moves in a new direction. Barely aware of himself, he wanders to the rooftop as a crimson light scorches the sky; all the while his mind is clouded by another voice, one that speaks sweetly of all he longs for._
> 
> **_"If power is all you seek, then the answer is right here awaiting you. All you need to do is step forward and take it in your hands."_ **
> 
> **_Power..._ ** _The boy hears the honeyed words through a haze of despair. His body begins to take on a red glow of its own as it obeys new strings. The illuminate pilar recoils from the sky and dims, coming down to form an oblong sphere on the roof. As if in a false gesture of kindness, his head rises  and draws his eyes to the shimmering whirlpool before him. **This will...grant me power...?**_
> 
> _" **Step forward, Midoriya Izuku,** **"** the voice resonates,  **"and this power shall be yours...!"**_
> 
> _Without waiting for an answer, his body responds and brings him toward the spectacle. Even now his thoughts are but molasses against their natural vigor, drowned out in the darkening words from nowhere. So encompassed within, he cares not for his bag falling from his back, nor the sound of the wind in his ears as he moves closer to the edge. All he knows are what he has been told, that his dream might become reali—_

There is someone standing in front of the crimson maelstrom, holding another inches away from its embrace.

In the glow their hair is a deep red like their eyes, blowing in their face as he struggles to kee—

> **_"—what is yours...! Ours...! Our destiny!"_ **

They're shouting something passionately as they slowly falter, bleeding lips moving with words without wind to ech—

> **_"—he speaks nothing but lies! He wants this power for himself...!_  Our _power!_ "**

He's dressed in an unfamiliar school uniform, yet still similar to that of the one he stands blockading the shifting depths of re—

> _**"—if he takes it from you, he'll kill you...! He'll kill your beloved Symbol of Pea—!"** _

In an instant everything snaps like a rubber band. He was... "What is—?"

_...he cares not for his bag ~~falling~~   **being pulled** from his back, nor the sound of the ~~wind~~ **voice**  in his ears..._

"Where—?!"

Silence greets him.

The skies above the school are as blue as ever.

His backpack is at his side on the ground, partly open.

The teenager that stood in his way is nowhere to be seen.

The crimson darkness that seemed to consume his thoughts and all of Musutafu are but phantasms.

"Did that...just happen?"

There is a buzz in his pocket, but as he draws his cell phone forth he sees the time. "How long have I been up here? I need to get home!"

Hurriedly, Midoriya Izuku gathers his things and rushes to the stairwell — running headfirst to meet his destiny...

* * *

_Ten Months Later..._

* * *

Standing at the gate of the faux city his group was to use for the Entrance Exam, moments away from the first step towards the rest of his life, Midoriya Izuku slaps his face with both hands to try and dispel his errant thoughts. Looking at his competition again gives him the sense that will be a fruitless effort, already considering details of their confidence and things that might indicate what kinds of Quirks they had.

Even with All Might's power — One For All — his recollection of their morning talk does nothing to settle his stomach. Or is it having trouble digesting the hair?

Before his thoughts begin to spiral out of control, he sees amongst the crowd of examinees a familiar face — a friendly one at that, rather than Kacchan.

"Ah, the nice girl!" he exclaims aloud unbeknownst to himself, so caught up in thought that he barely takes in the sight of her any more than that instant.  _Right, she used her Quirk to help me out. I should probably thank her for catching me._ Nervousness radiating off of his person, he walks forward towards the crowd—

"Ah, hey hang on a sec~!"

A hand takes hold of Midoriya's shoulder, and he turns to see a taller teenager with erratic red hair that draws his focus. Closer to the crown of his head the hair seems to have been shaped somewhat, but the unruly locks forced it into a spiky mess instead — not that he was one to talk, with his own hair as it was. The rest of his outfit seemed rather standard, from the simple black coat and pants to the blue shirt, but behind his back attached by a strap was a sword and sheath that seemed strangely out of place with the rest. For some reason he seemed very familiar in spite of being so out-of-place, both of which only increased as he smiled brightly with shining, sharp teeth.

As if realizing some mistake, the smile shrank slightly. Eyes squinting with cheer became squinted in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry. You uh, looked similar to someone I knew; my bad."

"E-Eh?" _I definitely haven't met anyone like this guy, so why do I feel I've seen him before? It's such a va—_

"Hey uh, you okay?" The familiar person leaned in, waving a hand in front of his face as shaded eyes reflected his concern. "You're talking out loud."

"Oh, uh, n-no problem...! I mean, I'm sorry! I—!"

Taking his hand from Midoriya's shoulder, he patted his back lightly. "Hey hey, you're fine. Don't sweat it. Let's start over, okay?"

Blinking rapidly, he eventually gave him a small, nervous smile. "Uh, sure. I'm Midoriya Izuku!"

Offering his hand out, the guy opened his mouth to respond.

_**"START!"** _

_Huh?_

Above the arena, Present Mic spins his arms in faux impatience.  _ **"WHAT'S WRONG?! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL FIGHTS!!!"**_

"C'mon Midoriya!"

Before he can process what's going on (or the Pro Hero is even finished) the familiar person is dragging him bodily into the test alongside the other examinees.

_Eh... Eh...? EH?_  Finally catching up mentally, he flails about a moment as he turns to his carrier. "W-W-Wait, hang on—!"

"Ah, sure!" he declares, smiling again as he slows down so Midoriya can return to the ground. He brings a hand to the back of his head, looking rather abashed. "Sorry, got a little carried away. Anyways, good luck on the Exam — you've got this, man~!" As if on reflex, his raised hand goes straight to the hilt of his weapon and draws it as he rushes off into the city — a strangely luminescent object that looks like a tan-colored kendō stick. As he turns he offers an even wider, toothy smile right as he dives into an alley and out of sight.

_That was...weird..._  "Oh man, I totally spaced out...!" Repeating his previous self-wake-up call, he whirled around and ran off into the midst of the testing ground in a panic. "I have to hurry and find villains or I'll fall behind!"

* * *

All things considered, Shōji Mezō considered himself fortunate today.

Right off the bat, he'd found a building with moderate height to climb up and gather intel. People seemed to think higher was better, but having taller buildings as sounding boards for his senses helped widen his scope, let alone that the peak of a skyscraper could draw too much attention.

Stretching out his arms, his careful consideration of the handout paid off: each of the 'villains' had its method of moving around the cityscape, and those differences were easy to start catching as he observed their movements. Right from the get-go, one examinee rapidly reached a group of the machines — a far cry from the main pack lagging behind — and had begun taking them down. As they did so, the masked examinee witnessed the targets' behavior firsthand, especially their habit of being drawn to fighting nearby.

While most of his competitors charged forth towards the opening volley, Shōji had considered other options. With robots of all point-values everywhere it made more sense to single out other groups away from the central fray, not only for his own sake but also to act the scenario properly — if every hero charged head-on to the main fray, other criminals would be left free to terrorize the populace at large.

Of course, that also meant he would be facing down the enemies himself. And while the points would be his for the taking, it wasn't coming out as an easy victory. Taking down a large group of Three-Point 'Villains' and handling the comparatively clumsy Two-Point ones was simple enough, but the influx of speedy One-Pointers were taxing to dodge after putting so much effort into handling the others.

As he leapt out of the way of another, the structure it hit provided it no resistance and large pieces of rubble began falling down while more showed up to attack. He kept on the move again, knowing that even the one he'd just evaded could possibly return.  _So much for avoiding damage and protecting civilians_. He hadn't heard any updates on the time left (if there were to be any), but he pushed the hope of losing track of time out of his mind. Were this a real villain attack, he couldn't afford to expect reinforcements and slip up. Resolved to keep fighting, he dodged another One-Pointer, catching its rear with three hands and with a grunt of exertion throwing it into a second revving up to charge.

Different limbs heard a rumble from behind and shifted into an eye to see what was approaching. In the back a new Three-Pointer had slid forward, its parts shifting loudly as it prepared to attack with its armaments. Having destroyed its 'compatriots' preemptively so they had no chance to strike, Shōji wasn't particularly keen on seeing the model fully in action — especially if it could reach him from such a distance.

Avoiding another charging One-Point, he made to dash at the larger 'villain' but found more and more of its smaller cousins getting in his path. An idea forming, he made to jump atop one in order to leapfrog over them, but he nearly takes a nasty spill as his stepping stones caught on and changed course before they built up too much speed. Quickly shifting feet onto his limbs salvages the landing somewhat with a twisted cartwheel, but it brings him no closer to his aim as more 'minions' make their charge to protect their 'boss'.

_So they can_ _work together now, huh?_ thought Shōji, his mask moistening slightly from tired breathing as he narrowly avoided two robots and swung them to crash into each other. _Could they always, or is this simulating a change of tactics in the face of opposition? Neither bodes well at this point, however._

Ahead of him the large machine's many eyes lit up and shifted around, some of them shifting out of the way for what looked like projectiles; he felt his stomach drop in that moment. Making another attempt to get closer, another One-Pointer drove out from a broken building and managed to ram his left arms as he tried to move them out of the way. Wincing in pain as he caught the attacker and threw them haphazardly at his primary target, he was knocked back onto the ground as the faux villain exploded midway. Looking up from the ground as he tried to gain his bearings, his other eyes saw the 'criminal' withdraw one armament and switch to another.

Gritting his teeth and preparing for the worst, the multi-armed teen heard a high-pitched whine from further out accompanied by swift footsteps. Above the  impending onslaught, another examine leapt into the air and swung down upon it with some long object. For an instant the machine simply changed its focus without pause, but in the next it was sparking and smoking as it fell apart neatly into pieces behind the kneeling victor.

Rising from their own grounded position, Shōji took in his reinforcement. By the high frequency sound he'd heard, he recognized them as someone who was also fighting enemies away from most of the others.  _Weren't they on the other end of the arena at the beginning?_  In the flashes of electricity and waves of heat from the broken robot, his crimson hair had a strange glow to it as it shifted against his perfectly still form. From his own physical training, there was the sense that their landing position was nowhere near as vulnerable as it appeared to be — as if but another stance of combat with his lengthy weapon held taut above the cement.

As he stepped forward and formed a mouth onto his limbs to thank them, his senses alerted him as a large group of One-Pointers charged at them both. Seeing his position now compromising his aid's reach, he changed his course of action and took hold of them with his other arms as his word of gratitude became a shout of warning. "Watch out!" Flinging him bodily over the robots without thinking, he was surprised when he found himself pulled along for the ride; the robots smashed into each other and collapsed, apparently unable to adjust as they had before while their 'leader' was in play.

"Thanks for the save, man!" Landing a moment ahead him, the male teen smiled brightly and swung a chain around his hand — loosening from around the masked teen's waist that he only now noticed. Now out of the enclosed alley where he'd made his stand, he couldn't help but notice how pristine the red-haired examine was in spite of all the fighting he'd surely been through. It was so out of place that he almost didn't catch that his chains  _changed_ into a sword-like shape as he placed it in the sheathe on his back, nor realize that a moment ago he'd used a quarterstaff to _slice apart_  the Three-Pointer.

Atop all the oddities about him, he smiled with teeth reminiscent of a shark but without the malice such a description might imply, as if to a well-known friend of many meetings rather than a first-time encounter. It was strange on its own, but somehow in a much more calming way. The mouth on Shōji's hand smiled. "That'd be my line — you pulled me out of two tight spots there."

"Doesn't count if I'm helping you while you're helping me," he returns with a humored tone. "Anyways, you gonna be okay for the rest of the exam?"

That got a chuckle from the multi-armed examine. "Thanks, but I'll be alright. Now that I know they can collaborate, I won't be caught off-guard again."

"Gotcha. Then I'll take my leave; plenty of 'villains' to be stopped. Good luck, man!" And like that, the red-haired teen rushed off with a wide grin on his face. 

  _ **"SIX MINUTES AND TWO SECONDS LEFT!!!"**_  Present Mic's voice echoed throughout the cityscape.

Shōji felt his diaphragm loosen as he looked towards the sky, his breathing returned to that tired and audible rhythm. _Only been that long, huh...? I'd better keep to hit-and-run tactics then._  "If you're what I can expect in terms of classmates," he pondered aloud with the mouth on his hand as the other teen ran further in, "I have a longer road ahead of me to becoming a pro than I thought."

_Sounds like a good time._

The mouth smiled, before shifting into a hand once more alongside the other five as the masked teen moved to climb another building.

* * *

Uraraka Ochako pants raggedly. One of her padded hands rises towards her face in an ingrained reflex, one that she doesn't counter as she scans around the battlefield. She's been pushing her Quirk to the limit already in taking down a fair number of 'villains', but in her mind she's trailing behind. Rationally she knows she's unfairly comparing herself with the brash teen who called out Present Mic earlier — for his apparent arrogance he certainly had the skill to back it up considering the swath of machines he mowed down.

For all she knows, he could be at the top and she could be ruining her own chances trying to reach too far. She carries on even so, mind focused on her dream even as she scans the vicinity for higher-point 'criminals' to take down. If she can't handle this, how is she supposed to manage the real deal?

It's at this point a shockwave reverberates throughout the area, which does little to ease her stomach. Turning around she finds herself and a number of her fellow examinees staring with surprise as a much  _much_ bigger robot appears, looming over the skyline as it prepares to smash a nearby building with its palm.

_Overkill doesn't even cut it...!_ She thinks as she takes a tentative step back.  _That's seriously dangerous!_

The Zero-Point 'Obstacle' plows through the structure with ease, sending rubble crashing down all over. Ochako is halfway turned around when she sees someone clutching their chest as they fall flat on their butt, a trail of light emanating faintly from their stomach. Her own stomach churns, but in that instant it drives her to action as she rushes over to help them up in spite of herself.

" _Mercí~_ " The blond boy — or at least they sound male — replies as she helps him stand. "I'll take it from here." As if the moment of weakness hadn't happened, he smiles in a flashy manner and hops a little into the air. A burst of light forces her to look away briefly as a laser propels him away from the giant robot.

Her moment of relief is short-lived, however, as the rubble she helped him avoid quickly falls upon her instead. It's a lot of pain and nausea as she tries to avoid the worst of it, and judging by the white-hot pain near the end she knows something's gone very badly.

Turning her head around as much as she can, she sees most of her body has been caught under a fallen support pillar. Wiggling minimally, she's glad to note it didn't fall far enough to hit anywhere close to terminal velocity, but her position beneath it prevents her from using her Quirk to lift it all away — not that she could for long with her stomach's condition only worsened by the fall. The sounds around her don't give her much positivity either, with the slow clack of the Zero-Pointer's large treads to her rear and the general commotion ahead.

Much as her ears warned her prior, the dust clears to reveal that the examinees are fleeing from the approaching machine. A fleeting hope of time is further dashed as Present Mic's voice reigns even over the destruction around them.   _ **"LESS THAN TWO MINUTES TO GO!!!"**_  

_Oh no._

Rational thought of student safety measures shatter within Ochako's thoughts. She takes as deep a breath as she dares to and tries to move  _something, anything_ to help her reposition and maybe use her Quirk to help herself out of her predicament. In that moment of desperation she actually begins to shift the pillar atop her body, but that small progress takes every ounce of strength that her body offers. The heavy rumble of the robot shakes something else loose in the rubble, landing painfully on her leg. She doesn't even resist the sharp cry it elicits from her, too focused on the task at hand.

And then she sees him — the plain-looking boy from the front gate that she'd helped at the entrance.

He's wearing a green jumpsuit of some kind, running straight for her with a look of fear and determination rolled into one. She doesn't know what he plans to do, but whatever it might be she feels a wave of hope rise up from within her all the same. It's almost euphoric in a way.

Looming above as he approaches her, the Zero-Pointer moves to plant its hand upon them both. But the moment it gets close, he suddenly glows like a brilliant star and launches himself into the sky. She doesn't know what he plans to do, but in her position she can't— 

CLICK

Suddenly her efforts are rewarded as the ensnaring rubble falls away like water around her. Standing nearby is another examine, hand coming down from above to offer her a hand up. His smile is sharp in more ways than one, crimson hair blowing all over his face. "Can you stand?"

She stares in stunned surprise, lifting a hand and shaking it in uncertainty before turning herself over to see the freckled teenager — now at eye-level with the mechanical behemoth in the middle of the air. Then, without warning, the looming machine is falling backwards in a burst of wind pressure and force that shakes the cityscape more than anything that preceded it. _Whatever his Quirk is, he blew away the Zero-Point Robot like it was nothing...!_

In spite of the lingering pain, it was a bizarre moment of wonder and awe that Ochako would never forget.

Looking up in awe as the giant fell to the earth, the subsequent silence was broken as the redhead standing nearby spoke up. "...Is he falling a bit _too_ fast...?"

* * *

Iida Ten'ya looks on in stark bewilderment as he watches the trio of examinees saving one another, so much so that he's still looking on when Present Mic calls the end of the test. His mind has long whirled towards what he now understands to be the truth of the exam by now, that surely there was an element beyond simply defeating 'villains' as a simple proving ground for combat. Even now, he understands his own follies in considering his own capacities ahead of others'.

What's truly begun to eat at him is the tallest of the group, and he's mostly certain that what bothers him isn't their brazen use of a weapon... Mostly.

In the case of the distracting boy and the girl he was about to bother before the exam began, their efforts went far above and beyond their normal call of duty and the relative strengths they wielded — the former broke his own limbs in the process rather gruesomely, and from the look of it she had saved him from his descent at the cost of her own constitution. But the spiky-haired teen who'd held up his friend from distracting her was nothing like that. He freed her and fought off more machines along the way to doing so without any difficulty. And as much as his mind tried to rationalize away his accomplishments, the Sōmei graduate's own competitive spirit felt the loss nevertheless.

Something about the way that he carried himself made it seem that the Zero-Point 'Villain' would have posed no challenge, and Ten'ya knew that the same could not be said for himself. The feeling of already being on the back foot... To be behind before he even got into U.A.? It bothered him more than he cared to admit.

Engrossed in this downward spiral of thinking, he didn't pay any mind to his surroundings until the focus of his thoughts was waving his hand in front of his eyes.

"Hey, are you alright there?"

Flinching in surprise, he tried to gather his composure as he adjusted his skewing spectacles. "My apologies, I was lost in thought."

Oblivious to the matter troubling him, the enigmatic teen smiled. "No worries. Just glad we don't have more injuries to worry about." With that, he turned and gestured to his two compatriots, both of whom were out cold and in disarray. "I kind of want to move them over to the nurse or something, but I'm not sure I should try moving Midoriya on my own with his limbs as they are."

He starts to gather up a response, but someone runs past as an elderly voice beats him to it. "No need, this young man came to get me already."

Following the sparkling blond teen —  _the one whom that girl jumped in to save_  — towards the group, Recovery Girl steps forward to see to them. The weapon user's smile lit up once more and turned to follow, leaving Ten'ya to look on at a loss as U.A.'s nurse tended to them with her powers.

"He'll probably be unconscious for a bit, but he'll be alright."

The redhead gave a deep bow to the school nurse. "Thank you very much!"

She gave him a light smile. "Just doing my duty. Are you friends?"

"We just met today, actually..." He leans away, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "He's got a manly kind of soul, you know?"

_They weren't friends?_ Something about that realization egged Ten'ya forward, and before he'd thought twice his lips were in motion. "Might I get your name?"

He paused, as if surprised at the question. Running a hand through his hair a few times as if trying to adjust the unruly locks, he met the gaze with an almost iridescent pair of magenta eyes for a moment and smiled a wistful yet heartfelt smile.

* * *

"Heeeeeeey, wait up~!"

Pausing to look up from his phone at the familiar voice, the crimson-haired teen stows it in his pocket and waves with a grin as a pink teenage girl ran up towards him. Adorned in the same junior high uniform he himself was now wearing, she slid in on her tan shoes and met his gaze with her black sclera, panting all the while.

"Hey Ashido-san!" came his rather abashed reply. "I apologize, I didn't see you on the way out. How well did you fare today?"

Ashido Mina takes a deep breath responds with a slap between his shoulder blades, which doesn't draw any reaction from him. "Loosen up already, would ya? We've been training together for months now and known each other way longer, but you always start off so stiff."

Chuckling nervously, he shrugs in a friendly manner. "Old habits die hard."

"One of these days you're going to have to stop relying on that excuse and tell me straight," she responds, turning away with a pout that also obscured her moment of pain from slapping his hardened back that had become routine. "You  _know_ I crave the juicy details, and I wouldn't tell a soul if it's really that important."

"I ap—I know, sorry."

The silence that falls would seem awkward to some, but they simply shift into a leisurely walk to the station. Such teasing was mostly in jest, and had been a regular feature of their interactions since they became close friends. Ashido had plenty of curiosity about his sudden and dramatic change, and he wouldn't expect anything less from her. He hoped that some day he could really explain it to her — or to anyone, for that matter.

The whole thing was so fantastical, sometimes he woke up in the morning and questioned it. Not that it lasted very long these days, but even so.

**_"Astounding... For someone so young, you remain untouched by the Chaos around you. What is your name, child?"_ **

"Edgey?" Snapped out of his reverie, Ashido's expression shifted from teasing to concerned as she saw his reaction. "You sure you're alright? You haven't had a brooding moment like that in awhile."

Smiling back tightly with comedic irritation, he gestured pointedly with hardening fingers. "You know I don't appreciate you calling me that."

Like a switch, his friend was sneering again as if the worry was his own imagination. "I call 'em as I see 'em, Edgey~!"

"..." Glaring for but a moment, he let out a sigh and gave her a more serious look. "I'm alright. Thought I ran into someone I knew at the exam."

Another half-truth, one his fellow senior doesn't truly buy into as he's come to expect, but with their rapport it goes unquestioned. Set aside for later? Certainly. But things worked better this way than tackling every mystery at once, and coming off insane. She hums with faux acceptance as per usual.

What would he have done without such a trusting friend...? "We made fast friends though, or at least I think so; met a lot of nice people towards the end, too. I hope they all make it in as well."

Ashido meets his gaze with a raised eyebrow. "You feel that confident about yourself, huh?"

"Nah..." He shakes his head and looks to the sky. "The exam is over, and only the victors may proceed onwards. I did my best; nothing else to it."

"As always, you use the most vague phrasing," his friend chides with a sly grin. "Are you going to leave me hanging?"

The red-haired teen smirks in turn; he'd been awaiting this comfortable banter. "I _did_ ask you first... Will you withhold all of your  _juicy_ gossip?"

Seeing Ashido's grimace, he softens his smile with sympathy as she grumbles. "Alright alright. You got me, Eijirō. Where do I even start?"

Kirishima Eijirō offers a noncommittal shrug, but his tone is lightly sarcastic. "How about the _beginning_ — the natural flow of time, you know?"

**Author's Note:**

> A rather belated tribute to a number of fic writers whom had their birthdays toward the tail end of October — this idea was sprouting midway that month, but it became what it is now as a result of going over some of their stories again and inspiring me as to certain focal points of this tale that I had been pondering without certainty. The only reason it didn't come out in the month itself is my accursed handwriting C'X
> 
> My hope is to make this accessible without needing a full breadth of knowledge about the Soul Series — the beauty of the recent reboot, among other things — if there's something unclear definitely fire away at the comments and (assuming I'm not already planning on addressing it) I'll take some consideration upon them.
> 
> On a more general note: while I haven't been the most active in posting, I've been writing all the time on a few projects — I presently have the 2nd chapter of Talk About False Advertisement ready and waiting for a beta-read and the 3rd half-done, for example. However, my other present project has a particular deadline and post-date I hope to meet — plus a few other things that will eventually make their way here in due time. Not to mention that the wait means the present manga storyline can possibly resolve and shed more light on 1-B — useful for many stories... δωδ
> 
> As a result this might also not get its next chapter up swiftly, but make no mistake: I'll be writing it in the interim, among everything else. Thank you to all of you who've given kudos and comments to TAFA and bookmarked it in spite of my silence; be strong, take care, stay safe, and enjoy the winter season's glory as you can~


End file.
